LAS VEGAS — All I heard on the way out here was that Team USA executive director Jerry Colangelo and coach Mike Krzyzewski have a big problem with the recent withdrawal of big man Kevin Love, and what are they going to do at power forward? Well, after watching the first practice, I think they have a second problem — but this is the good kind. They have five point guards who can all flat-out play, and my guess is they can
I have always pondered the challenge of being an NBA coach, so here’s my attempt at coming up with three different key strategies for both coaches and teams to implement if they are going to win the championship. I personally feel that San Antonio’s Gregg Popovich is not only the premier coach in the game today, I actually believe he is one of the greatest leaders of any sport in the history of our country. On the other side you have Miami’s
I was sitting at the famed Carnegie Deli in NYC over some matzoh ball soup with my dear friend and Jewish godfather (and also a recent basketball Hall of Fame nominee) Howard Garfinkel, who mentioned a quote from a once-famous basketball coach named Elmer Ripley. The quote dates back more than 50 years and was delivered at a coaching clinic: “The big men are all the same. It’s the guards that make the difference.” Being that I was once a proud point
As far back as I can remember, it was always “You bring your guys and I’ll bring my guys, and Let’s Have At It. This year’s Sweet 16 reminds me very much of that old axiom. As close friends and family can attest, I have always been considered a basketball savant — from a very early age as they would say Bobby is of those coaches who can beat you with his guys, then turn around and beat you with your
From the time I first saw Chuck Daly, Pat Riley and my all-time favorite, Larry Brown, who used to wear the cool sport coats with the patches on the elbow, roaming the sidelines coaching in the NBA, I aspired to someday be an NBA head coach. Because I read about the great Moses Malone putting a note in the Bible, wanting to be a great NBA player someday, I decided at age 11 to do the same thing. Somehow, I didn’t
With the announcement of Bruce Pearl’s hiring as Auburn’s new basketball coach, a memory of a mid-major battle hit me. In December of 2005, coming on the heels of my Manhattan Jaspers’ upset of the Florida Gators and subsequent 2 point loss to Chris Paul and Wake Forest the previous spring, which cost us a trip to the Sweet 16, we met Bruce Pearl’s UW-Milwaukee Panthers in their house. UW-Milwaukee’s trip to the Sweet 16 the season before and a current Top
After the brackets get announced tonight, the madness begins. The entire nation will be trying to figure out who will win and who will lose, who will survive and advance, and most of all, who will wear the Cinderella glass slipper. And then, will that Cinderella wear the glass slipper for just a few bright shining moments, or like modern-day giant-killers Butler, VCU, George Mason and Wichita State, can a team from a smaller non-BCS conference catch lightning in a bottle
To shop for NCAA Tournament tickets, click on this banner. Before everybody picks Florida in their NCAA Tournament brackets, a word of caution: The Gators can be upset by a small college team. I would know – because my team did it to them a decade ago. Last Saturday, while driving up I-95 to the Basketball Hall of Fame for an induction ceremony for a former player of mine, Luis Flores, a flood of memories washed over me.